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Ramblings about cycling, politics, and life.

politics

No witty or funny title, just straight to the point – like this post will be. This election has brought unprecedented levels of empty rhetoric and irrelevant bullshit to public discourse. It’s an age-old propaganda strategy called “muddying the water”. Spam so much bullshit into public discussion that people either no longer know or no longer care what is actually relevant and what is actually true. Allow me to briefly cut through it all, because there are some major issues we face in this election that are at the heart of the more often talked about issues, and none of them are getting airtime. Once you recognize these root issues and weigh out how the candidates will actually affect them (not how they say they’ll affect them), Trump becomes the obvious choice of the person capable of critical thinking. Here’s why…

#1.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious to me that this election is likely to be a referendum on free speech. It is without a doubt the most critical issue facing Americans in this election.What? Most critical issue, yet you haven’t heard it mentioned at a debate or obsessed over on a cable news talk show? That’s because the corporate owned media propaganda machine (notice I didn’t say “liberal” or “conservative” – they’re all the same) wants you to stay blind to this one. Within only the past several years, and especially with the emergence of “black lives matter” and the idea of “safe spaces” there has a been a veiled, but very concerted attack on free speech in this country. This country that only a few, short years ago valued this right above all others is rapidly transforming into a place where speaking your mind is very dangerous. Make no mistake, this is not a left and right issue. Both sides of the aisle do it, they simply have different ideas of what free speech they want to suppress. The right wants to remove your ability to criticize authority (see: anything negative about police, military, the flag, patriotism, ‘Merika, etc.) and the left wants to remove your ability to criticize… pretty much everything else (anything negative about blacks, Muslims, feminists, liberal leaders, or, if you’re white and male, nearly anything that comes out of your mouth). As they advance this agenda together, we’re rapidly losing our ability to do or say anything other than simply heading off to work every day with our heads down and mouths shut to be a good, corporate money making drones – exactly what our wealthy masters want.Liberals never miss a chance to call Trump Hitler and claim he’ll bring fascism to American, but what could be more fascist than them using cries of “racism!” and “hate speech!” to shut down any opinion that disagrees with their own? The First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect statements that people enjoy hearing or the act of saluting the flag. It exists to protect the triggering, controversial, nasty speech on the margins of society – because those people deserve to voice their opinions too, whether you like it and agree with it or not. It exists to protect those that want to sit out the national anthem, yell “fuck the police”, and shit on the flag before burning it. It exists to protect people that want to say all lives matter, that black people commit the vast majority of violent crime, and that feminists are just angry ugly girls. Attempts from both sides to suppress this free speech are anathema to everything America is supposed to stand for. And, in an ultimate irony, these suppression efforts are done in the name of FREEDOM!!!! Because no one can argue against FREEDOM!!!! Freedom for who? “Freedom” for the people the speech offends. I’m sorry, but free speech is protected by the First Amendment. There is nothing in the Bill of Rights that guarantees you a right to not be offended.

So, on this issue, why Trump? Whether intentional or not, Trump is returning free speech to America. All those “deplorables”? It’s their speech the First Amendment is protecting. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to agree with it. They have a RIGHT to say it. With Trump in the public eye saying controversial and outrageous things on almost a daily basis, people are again feeling comfortable speaking their minds publicly as well – as they should. He has changed national discourse and returned marginalized voices that had been beaten down by the speech suppression machine. He has fueled the rise of free speech advocates like Milo Yiannopoulos. His public antics and his supporters’ awakening has been the first real challenge to speech suppression since its inception. Of course, it has resulted in the escalation of speech suppression rhetoric as well. Cries of “racism!” and “bigot!” are at all time highs. Think illegals don’t belong here? You’re a racist. Think we shouldn’t import terrorists? You’re a bigot. Think the disproved gender-based wage gap is… disproved? You’re a sexist. But people aren’t having it anymore. They’re fighting back. And if we’re being honest, it’s because Trump set the ball in motion. Regardless of what Trump’s policy may be in this area, his own disregard for political correctness sends the message to the nation at large that it’s once again acceptable to speak your mind. The stuff coming out might not be pretty and it might trigger your sensitive self, but that’s exactly the type of stuff we need to ensure is always free to be said.

As in all other cases, Hillary will provide us more of the same – in this case: speech suppression. Her campaign’s and supporters’ constant cries of racism and sexism against statements and actions that are not remotely either is easy proof of this. The DNC went to extraordinary lengths to ensure Bernie supporters were not heard at the convention or the voting booth, and that dissenters were hidden away behind a massive wall. Voting is the very pinnacle of free speech. The DNC ran a biased, rigged election and did everything in their power to making voting difficult. This is not a group of people who value your speech rights. As much as the GOP hated Trump, they ran a fair election even knowing it would likely result in him being the nominee.

A vote for Hillary is a vote for more speech policing, more election rigging, and more voter suppression. Whether you agree with what he’s saying or not, a vote for Trump is a vote for you to be able to continue to say what you want.

#2.

American voters like to disavow any responsibility for the results of their government’s foreign policy actions. In reality, you are directly responsible for the results of the wars and violence perpetrated in your name, by your elected government. Americans have never showed sympathy for citizens of foreign nations with violent governments, be it WWII Germany and Japan or Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. The reality they fail to recognize is that the rest of the world views them with equally little sympathy. When (not “if” or “should”) America falls from its premier world power status, our foreign policy chickens will come home to roost in a way far beyond anything we have seen. We will be held to our own standards. Vote carefully.

There are lots of claims being spammed out about Trump on foreign policy. One of my favorites is the paradox of him being both an agent of the Russian government and a tyrant hell-bent on starting a war with Russia. Surely Putin’s mind control drugs are making Trump want to go to war with Russia. Makes perfect sense… if you’re braindead. Most of the claims revolve around him being a violent, unpredictable nut that’ll nuke the world into the stone age. Cutting through the bullshit, the strong statements Trump has made are nearly all in regard to ISIS. Even though both Clinton and Trump have called for more war, it’s important to distinguish war with who and for what. Trump’s calls for war are specifically aimed at what he sees as a current, direct threat to US security: ISIS. He repeatedly calls for escalated war to eradicate ISIS – which, seemingly forgotten by everyone, was the exact same thing anti-war Bernie Sanders called for. No one called Sanders a warmonger or trigger happy. On nearly the opposite end of the spectrum, Clinton’s foreign policy is a continuation of Reagan, Bush, other Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama… more intervention, more illegal attacks on sovereign states, more imperialist wars, and the very real possibility of a war with Russia. As recently as the last debate Clinton has called for more illegal bombing in Syria. She has publicly supported a no-fly zone in Syria, which everyone with a brain recognizes as a slap in the face to Russia and a setup for an exchange of fire between our countries that would surely start a war. She has stayed silent about Obama’s increase of troops in Iraq (I thought liberals claim he ended that war?). A vote for Clinton is a vote for more of this, and their blood will be on your hands.

Clinton and her supporters repeatedly tout her support of the Iran treaty as evidence of her not being a warmonger. Unfortunately, this is merely nice window dressing on a career littered with warmongering and the blood of hundreds of thousands (possibly millions, depending on who you go to for numbers) of innocents. In reality, it’s a way to look diplomatic, while also securing an easy excuse to go to war with Iran in the not-so-distant future (did everyone so quickly forget those weapons inspections in Iraq that justified attack after attack on them for the past 20 years?). Clinton’s wars created ISIS. They fuel terrorism. They breed terrorists. After all, that’s the whole point: eternal war. It keeps your tax dollars lining the pockets of her offense contractor donors and friends, lives of those innocents on the receiving end of the bombs be damned.

#3.

If you want to know what candidate will be best for you, the lower class (middle class doesn’t even exist anymore) voter, just follow the money. If the candidate is liked and supported by big money, they aren’t your friend. It’s become even more obvious in the last few weeks that the establishment really does hate Trump. From the beginning I questioned whether Trump was a real candidate (and still sometimes do) or just a plant to force people to Clinton. Whether he is or isn’t a legit candidate, one thing is certain: he genuinely is hated by the establishment and nearly every power figure and entity in the country and even Western world. The media are running a concerted effort to destroy him in these final days, as Clinton fails to rocket ahead as the master plan must have stated she would. The New York Times was even desperate enough to illegally publish some of his tax returns today. Lies about him and his statements taken out of context are circulated 24/7. Republicans and conservatives are running to endorse Clinton in droves. Wall St. loves her enough to pay her thousands of dollars a minute for a speech. Despotic foreign governments have bankrolled both her campaign and her money laundering foundation. Clinton’s backers are a who’s who of the ruling class from across the planet. That alone should tell you were her loyalties lie. Even if items #1 and #2 don’t matter enough to you, the very fact that Trump is despised by the powers that be should at least tell you that, if nothing else, he’s closer to truly being on your side than Clinton will ever be. Even if he is just a plant, stick it to them harder and elect him anyway.

Of course, someone is going to point out that I didn’t mention the third party candidates. There’s good reason for that. They both suck.

Johnson’s “free market” horse shit is the fantasy of the wealthy, redneck guys in high school (or their mom’s basements), and the economically clueless. You would have to be an absolute fool or very rich to even consider voting for him. Put that fedora away, pick up a history book, and grow up from that libertarian non-sense.

Then there’s Stein… oh Stein. Always there to catch a photo-op vandalizing something or trespassing, never around to accomplish anything useful. She’d be an utter failure on item #1, likely bringing on even more sensitivity and “safe space” garbage. I just can’t bring myself to like either of those fools. HOWEVER… big however… if you are not in a swing state and your vote doesn’t really matter anyway, please vote third party to at least help legitimize third parties and move us closer to the end of this two party joke.

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This year’s election cycle has brought us some of the most blatant media propaganda to date, email leaks that have detailed how in-bed the American MSM is with the DNC, tens of millions of dollars in spending for pro-Clinton online trolls, and what has to be the most coordinated MSM effort yet to shove a candidate down the public’s throat – all of which is based in fabricating a false narrative and selling it to the public as reality. That is literally the sole purpose of our modern Western media. So, in the light of all that and because it’ll be an easy way to throw new material and talking points out regularly, I present my new post segment… “correct the narrative”. Of course, named after Clinton’s “correct the record” Internet troll team.

For our first and current addition we have the photo of this injured child from Syria with quite an upsetting look on his face.

Here are some top headlines off Google news from the few US media outlets even bothering to cover this kid:

People are SHOCKED! OUTRAGED! What’s going on in Syria to get this kid so dirty?!?!

Seriously? This imperial war (never mind all the others the US is and has been involved in) has been going on for years and people are just now shocked and outraged by it because of a picture of a dirty kid with a slightly red face? Just this week we had our second, NATO bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital and literally not one single fuck was given by anyone I’m connected to on any social media. Is it testament to the tunnel vision created by social media (if it’s not trending on Twatter then social justice warriors don’t care about it)? Is it the success of the propaganda machine that’s succeeded in making Westerners subconsciously think that the only things happening in the world are what’s covered by the MSM? Are people really just this clueless or is it a herd/bandwagon mentality that says, “other people are upset about this so I am too…what’s Syria?” It certainly isn’t a lack of available information about the war in Syria. A simple Google image search for “Syria” gives results that are almost entirely pictures of destruction – a map of Syria even comes second to a picture of a bombed out city. A search for “Syria child” returned limitless results just like these…

And those are just the happy ending pictures because their bodies are all in one piece. If you’re going to be SHOCKED and OUTRAGED, then be shocked and outraged. As a tax payer directly funding this conflict and the Clinton/Obama “regime change” imperialism in Syria, it not only behooves you, but it is your responsibility to see the results of your democratically elected government at work and what they’re doing in YOUR name (then sit and try to wonder why the “terrorists” hate us). Go do that same image search and turn off Google’s “don’t show me stuff that might trigger my sensitive self” filter. It’s your responsibility, because children and innocent adults in not just Syria, but every US sponsored war torn country aren’t just getting dirty and red so they can go sit in an ambulance and look sad. That’s the censored, MSM approved face of the war because it let’s you feel sad so you can pretend like you care, but not so angry that you can’t just forget about it five minutes later. It’s like tossing the homeless guy on the corner a dollar (you generous, big-hearted person you), but then not actually taking any steps to end homelessness. You can get satisfaction feeling your feelly feels for the dirty kid, “I care. It made me sad. I’m a good, empathetic person.” Then go back to sipping your Starbucks while watching the Kardashians, confident in your vote for Hilary because, hey, she’s going to bring more of this… but at least she’s not Trump!

How about instead you go see the real results of imperialist war funded by your tax dollars? Go look at the headless, limbless bodies of the kids that didn’t make it into the ambulance. See the parents carrying their dead kids through the bombed out streets. See the kids flattened by tanks or mangled into unrecognizable piles of meat. You want shock and outrage? Dirty kid is one snowflake on the tip of this war-for-profit iceberg.

So with all that said, let me correct the narrative and give this news story a proper title

“Very, very mild result of American imperialist policy and endless war FINALLY makes it onto the news… clueless Americans in shock.”

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“We must ignore all the issues with Hilary and the DNC and band together to defeat this evil menace!!”

Can ​someone tell me what’s so dangerous about Trump? Is it because he’s itching to start a war with Russia… oh wait, that’s Hilary. Is it because he’s trying to reignite Cold War fears to distract from his scandals… oh wait, that’s Hilary. Is it because he’s anti-single payer… oh wait that’s Hilary. Is it because he’s anti $15 minimum… oh wait that’s Hilary. Is it because he’s been exposed as taking bribes to get donors administration positions… oh wait, that’s Hilary. Is it because he’s super pro Israeli genocide… oh wait, that’s Hilary. Is it because he’s pro-TPP and any trade deal that’ll crush our jobs and rights… oh wait, that’s Hilary. Is it because he rigged an election in his own favor and subverted the most important freedom we have in this country… oh wait, that was Hilary. Is it that he’s beholden to legions of corporate donors that oppose the progressive movement… oh wait, that’s Hilary. Is it all the people he’s killed in interventionist wars all over the globe… oh wait, that’s Hilary. Is it because he runs a money laundering agency for pay-to-play politics with foreign governments… damn it, that’s Hilary too. Is it because he’s directly controlled media in an attempt to lie to people and subvert democracy… nope, still Hilary. Is it because he hired on a disgraced party chair caught cheating in the primary… shit, was that Hilary too? Must be the private prison lobby money… nope, Hilary. ’94 crime bill… Hilary. Big drug war advocate… Hilary. Anti-transparency, whistle blower prosecutor… Hilary. Anti-regulation of large banks… Hilary. Secret speeches to Wall St. firms… Hilary. Getting caught in a new lie every week… Hilary. Deemed “extremely careless” by the head of the FBI for improper handling of government information… Hilary.
So, for real, what the fuck is so dangerous about Trump that makes him MORE dangerous than Hilary? I couldn’t even dream up someone more dangerous than Hilary. The cognitive dissonance and mental gymnastics going on with democrats right now is just sofaking mind blowing to those of us without blue blinders on.

And you can ridicule me and throw all kinds of ad hominem shade my way for now supporting Trump (so many already have). You can call me racist and nazi and everything in the book, but one thing you sure as shit won’t do is confront me with facts – because there aren’t any. Any objective reading of reality and facts pegs Trump as the lesser of evils by A LANDSLIDE. That’s why the shillbots and blue blinded folks have nothing to offer in retort but insults and hyperbolic rhetoric making repeated references to Hitler.

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I heard two pretty great points made today by someone I don’t normally have much respect for.

#1. Rank and file democrats have developed an almost Stockholm Syndrome relationship with their party. In spite of decades of doing absolutely nothing for or actively undermining the middle class, the rank and file still love the party and seem to draw tighter with it with each passing scandal and revelation. The DNC has effectively sold the idea “at least we care, unlike those terrible Republicans,” and that’s now sufficient for their voting base – even in spite of the DNC’s decades of failure to do anything for them.

#2. Trump has been a public attention whore for over 30 years. It was his marketing strategy for his businesses. We’ve watched his shows, read his books, and seen him interviewed by every news outlet on the planet. We knew everything there was to know about him prior to this election. Not once in the prior 30 years was he ever labeled a racist, bigot, or “dangerous.” In fact, he was well known as left of center. Now, suddenly, everyone wants to act like he’s the spawn of Hitler because… they don’t even know. He’s racist. Is he? Quote it. They can’t. Bigot? Quote it. They can’t. What makes him more dangerous than the proven war monger that has some kind of vendetta with Russia? They don’t know.

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Much has changed in a year, including my desire to write, ease of flow of my writing, and the amount of free time I have to write. The amount of time that’s passed since a substantial post should be evidence enough of all that. I suppose a desire to write is actually always there, somewhere, but the difference between “I should probably write something” and meaningful content flowing freely to the e-paper is, well, the difference between a post actually getting written or me finding something else to do. Plus, there’s that whole issue of most of my writing previously taking place at work and now no longer having my own office. In fact, I still have a saved draft for what was supposed to be a play by play and analysis of how “#shutitdown” was quickly and effectively changed to “#blacklivematter” in order to stifle an uprising and flip it on its head into a way to further divide the populace.

That draft never made it past the title. This would seem to be a more fitting time than any to actually finish it, but then that would distract me from less important things, like this directionless rambling and lengthy reminiscing on what’s occurred while I’ve been MIA from the blogosphere for the past year. Anyway, I think most people have figured out the “black lives matter” farce on their own at this point. Except the liberals. They’re just getting worse. I like to follow people and pages on social media to keep a pulse on different groups, even though I’m not actually friends with most of these people. I follow the young, Christian couples married at 19 years old, people my age that failed to start and think they’re still in high school, doomsday prepping gun nuts, grads of good schools and bad slaving their lives away (some in real careers, some at Starbucks or equivalent) to pay back their student loans, social justice warriors, kids fresh out of college that think they know everything, military dependapotomouses, police apologists, and, my new favorite, 2016 liberals. I need to come up with a more catchy name for them. I’m open to suggestions. In spite of the lack of a catchy or meme-able name, you’ll still know them when you see them. They’re the people who talk about “safe spaces” (in a totally serious, non-mocking way). They voted for Bernie, but don’t think he’s anti-gun enough. They think whites are racist and ruining the world just by existing (yet, ironically, they’re almost all white themselves). They’re new-age feminists that think everything is rape – including guys saying “hello” to women they pass on the street and the simple existence of a male sex, that’s rape too. They’re the ones that can turn anything into a race issue and scream “RACIST!” at anyone that disagrees with them. Those people. You know the type I’m talking about. Mostly college age. Mostly jobless. Mostly clueless. Saving the planet by putting Caucasians down at every opportunity. Sorry if any of that triggers someone. I should have put a trigger warning. Those a big thing these days too. Anyway, so yeah, I follow some of those people too – just to keep tabs on how crazy they’re getting.

How crazy are they getting? Pretty fucking crazy. The latest litter, fresh out of college (or still in), seems to be trying to one-up the fools before them. Grammar is now racist. Grammar. This was one of many items I’ve been able to check off my bucket list in the past year. I was hoping I’d live to see the day that something as objective, non-political, mundane, and harmless as grammar could successfully be labeled as racist. Life didn’t disappoint and we got there with freightening rapidity. This has resulted in the need for some adjustment though. I used to self-identify as “liberal”. This is no longer accurate or advisable (lest people think I get my entire worldview from Vice and/or Huffington Post). In the past year, the term “liberal” died. “Liberal” has ceased to mean “progressive” and now has become synonymous with being what is, for all practical purposes, a neo-con that loves gays and abortion and hates guns and white people. That’s not me. My IQ isn’t low enough for that kind of lack of independent thinking. So henceforth, my use of the term “liberal” will be in the same pejorative sense that conservatives use it.

Speaking of worldviews and delusional people, we’ve had some tragic, but amazingly landmark events in just the past few months. I’ve written in the past about the need Americans have for even the most complex of issues to be boiled down into black and white simplicity with easily remembered and repeated rhetoric. Of course, when you over-simplify complexity and substitute catchy rhetoric for critical thinking, what you end up with is usually a completely inaccurate representation of reality. But Americans have never been known to let facts and logic get in the way of their opinions. Subsequently, Americans of all political leanings have an obsession with fabricated narratives: “Islam is the religion of peace”, “mass shooters are crazy white people”, “gays aren’t criminals”, “only guns allow for mass killings”, “mass shootings only happen in America because we don’t have enough gun control”, “blacks are always victims”, etc. These narratives are then paraded around as facts and used to justify worldviews, political actions, etc. Within the past year, these narratives and more have been completely shattered. A gay, Muslim guy shot up a night club. Liberals were beside themselves and when the gay and Muslim came out, the story was swept under the rug as quickly as possible. Then a “black lives matter” activist decided he’d had enough and started gunning down police officers. Conservatives didn’t know how to react – call him a criminal thug because he’s black or cheer for him using the Second Amendment in exactly the way they always interpret it. I could see their heads exploding as I watched them try to make sense of it. In both cases, liberals didn’t waste one second before blaming the crimes on guns and demanding more gun control. Dems in Washington even staged an election season pandering fest “sit in” in congress to demand more gun control (then immediately voted down the proposed measures… but I digress). “This wouldn’t happen without ‘assault weapons’!!!” the liberals cried. “Yes it would,” conservatives retorted, “someone could just drive a truck into a crowd and kill just as many people.” “Impossible! That would never happen. You’re an ammosexual living in a fantasy world!” the liberals fired back. Then, whether by cosmic comedy, fate acting as some sick movie director acting perfectly on cue, or an unbelievably timed coincidence, someone drove a truck into a crowd and killed 80+ people. Conservatives seemed to almost celebrate. Liberals were completely silent. Life went on, no beats missed, for the rest of us. I wasn’t surprised. The small number of other people with brains weren’t surprised. It was as unsurprising as a population finally deciding to start shooting cops as retribution for cops shooting them… but alas that’s another issue and this post is already getting long-winded.

I don’t want this to be all politics and world events though. Yet, in spite of my efforts to make a non-political post here and there, this blog always seem to sway back towards politics and economics (they are both in the main header, after all). Maybe because those things interest me and get me heated enough to take the time to write on them. Maybe because I feel there are so few voices of logic and reason out there talking about either. Maybe because that’s all I’m capable of writing about on a consistent basis. Hopefully it’s not that last reason. I originally wanted this blog to be about cycling adventures and industry events (like my venting about shit road disc brakes and how much Specialized sucks). That never really materialized because I figured no one but me cares about what I do on my bike, plus BikeSnobNYC already has that market cornered (though he’s losing his funny these days). I very recently (like, really really recently, while typing the previous sentence) thought about expanding this blog to discuss operations management and poor management induced workplace issues – maybe I still will. For awhile I’ve thought about making a blog written from my dog’s perspective – maybe I still will. But first, back to what I originally wanted: a blog about outdoor adventures. Hopefully my move to Colorado provides for and facilitates the writing of stories and ramblings interesting enough to write about, maybe they’ll even be interesting enough to read too. Since I can’t keep this blog on topic, I made another one: here. Don’t be too disappointed that there’s currently nothing but a header and the default sample post from WordPress. That blog will hopefully, someday when I’m feeling it, chronicle the adventures and misadventures of my fiancé and I, plus be a place for me to vent and/or share words of wisdom about outdoor life. Of course, I don’t have any time or desire to do that right now though. I wasted it all writing this post.